Bert and Roy, Guys of all the people I want to see remain good friends, you two are certain there.
From my perspective, this is simply my opinion vs another's opinion. No reason to worry that it will cause problems in a friendship.
The support section of the EULA is even worse, support is totally hit or miss, if AC wants to they will and if they don't care to they won't??? That is some upsetting and concerning terms and conditions. And worse yet one must sign off on accepting such messed up terms and conditions just to get their bought and paid for quarterly updates???
This is the premise that I find is wrong. Sure, the EULA has changed. Sure, maybe Jon is offering less support or an inferior product or is changing to a subscription model. That is his right as the owner and author of the program. As the consumer, we have the right to buy, subscribe or do neither. Their used to be a great little product called GoBack by Wildfile. It was good. Then it was bought by Adaptec, which bought Roxio. It was great as Adaptec and less so as Roxio. Then this one little restore program was sold to Symantec for $13,000,000. Now it is ruined. Symantec, IMHO, ruins anything it touches. So, is GoBack the same product it was five years ago? No. Do I have to buy it? No. There was a great imaging program called Drive Image. It was made by PowerQuest. It competed with Ghost. Then Symantec bought Drive Image and used it to make Ghost. Now Drive Image and Ghost are terrible. Same thing as above.
This is the point. Do I want everything to be the same as before? Do I want the EULA to be one paragraph long and the program to cost $250 per year again? Yes, but it isn't. I have to decide if it is still worth it to purchase it. And, it is.
I just do not see how Amazing Charts is going to take your data. They just aren't. But, if you are worried about it, save a copy of AC on a CD and back up your data daily. If somehow AC can get into your computer and turn off AC, you can install the program on another PC and access all your data.
Imagine if you would the concept of having Staples or OfficeMax take back your filing cabinets, folders and papers and have them post-facto no less, turn your purchases of such supplies into renewing leases, that the vendor themselves for any reason that fit their fancy could kick you out of no less. Sorry, tough, here we come to take back your files. Or if they had a deviced rigged that could destroy your files via remote control because they didn't want to renew your lease, even if you were willing to re-up.
While there is no limit as to where technology is going and what one can do with it, are you really saying with your above analogy that Jon is going to break into your computer, take or destroy your program and destroy your data? The only thing Jon can and will do (unless I am totally missing the boat here) is not allow you to have support or use new versions if you are not subscribed to his product annually. Adam made a good point to me the other day, and I find it to be an excellent analogy. We generally say we "own" our domain names. No, we do not own them. We "lease" them or subscribe to them. Or pay for them when the time is up. If you do not pay, your domain name is freed up for anyone to use. Now your email and your website and everything which depends on it, are no longer effective. I have a friend who recently forgot to pay for her hosting. Guess what. The site is gone.
...the great values and governing priciples that founded this great little company and gave rise to this wonderful product we all use and depend on each and every day, should be self evident in the terms and conditions of the contracts it gives its faithful users to sign. And that the rules of the game, when they were so obviously originally based on such fine principles, should not be changed on us in the the midst of our relationship. It was the original terms and conditions, combined with those great giuding principles that got us to "buy-in" in the first place.
While we all purchasing things for different reasons: the price of a product, its performance, the support or the attitude of the vendor; any of the above may and probably will change over time. What may you decide to obey in the first place, when it is gone, may make you decide not to purchase again. I think what continues to be missed here is no one is being forced to subscribe to AC. No one is being forced to purchase it to begin with. One decides what he or she wishes to purchase.
Yes, this site
http://www.amazingcharts.com/software_pricing.htm does read as though you have to make one purchase one time. But, when read carefully, I think it means you need one license and not one for each computer. It also means that once you have purchased the software, that's it, no other charges. You can keep that version forever with that license. At the bottom of the same page in fine print, of course, is the following:
The fine print: All prices and services are subject to change without notice and you must agree to our Terms to use our software and services. CPT is a registered trademark of The American Medical Association. Guardian Angel Technical Support is a trademark of AmazingCharts.com, Inc.
This is rather clear. As much as I wish this topic would go away, I don't think it will. To summarize:
Please read the EULA. Please read Jon's newsletter on the upcoming version. Look at the program and how it fits your workflow and your office. Then decide if you wish to continue to use it. I think it's that simple. Sometimes, one has to look at things this way: Jon and Amazing Charts are going in a certain direction. I doubt we are going to change that. The only thing we can do is either support him or not. Ultimately, that will be what determines the success of the program.
That doesn't mean we should stop using the boards to share our ways of doing things on AC. Or, to be critical of parts of the program. We don't have to stop commenting on the additions we would like made. Or anything else.
